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Regular speech: "Wryyyyyy."
Thoughts: 'Wryyyyyy.'
Summon's, higher beings regular speech: "Wryyyyyy."
Summon's, higher beings thoughts: 'Wryyyyyy.'
Locations: Somewhere in the deep ocean…
Techniques: Kawarimi!
'Document, quotation'.
Italics can be used for certain kinds of emphasis or snide comments.
Bold can be used for forceful yelling/shouting/screaming.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or JJBA.
Chapter II
Team 7 has been travelling for an hour now. Everything seemed to be quiet in the forests of the Land of Fire. During the summer life flutters with both numerous roaming animals and thick trees, on which shinobi of the Leaf mostly travel through the country, jumping from one branch to another in a quick succession, crossing up to tens of kilometres a day. It is a crucial skill for a ninja to have, and the most useful. Alas, our group can't travel that fast at the moment. Well, their companion can't.
"Tazuna-san, you are from the Wave, aren't you?" Sakura asked to liven up the conversation.
"What of it?" the man answered grudgingly.
"Kakashi-sensei, don't they have ninjas in the Wave?"
"No. Countries as small as the Wave don't," answered their mentor. "Hidden Villages are mostly located in the Great Nations. Land of Fire – Hidden Leaf, Land of Water – Hidden Mist, Land of Wind – Hidden Sand, Land of Lightning – Hidden Cloud, and Land of Earth – Hidden Rock. These villages possess immense military power, and they have constant power struggles, many of which result in confrontations, which then lead to wars," Kakashi paused, reliving some of his painful memories. "But they don't actually rule the countries they are in, they're only on even terms with their respected governments. And countries as small and secluded as the Wave, because they aren't a subject of interference to any of the villages, don't have the right to have one," and so Kakashi concluded his little geography lesson. The genin absorbed the lesson of a jonin, and each had their own thoughts about it.
'Wow! I didn't realise how great Hokage-sama is, having lived up to such age and constantly facing other Hidden Villages. The weight of it all must be unbearable,' thought Sakura.
'Did I really defeat the old man back then? Is my Sexy Jutsu strong enough to take down a Kage?' pondered Naruto. He would have to get creative if he really wants to surpass the Third.
Sasuke, however, abandoned thought. 'Am I the only one who didn't sleep in on the classes in the academy? What a pain.'
In the following hour nothing seemed to be out of order. However, when passing a puddle on the road, Kakashi seemed to have noticed something, but shook it off just as quickly. Then, behind the backs of the travellers, a figure rose from the water. It split into two cloaked shinobi and attacked the lazy jonin.
"What?" was the only thing Kakashi could say before being torn to shreds by a chain that connected each attacker's gauntlet with sharp claws.
The team and Tazuna exclaimed a collective 'What?', the sudden ambush successively having taken them by surprise.
"One down" muttered the first brother.
"Second down" muttered the second as they readied to strike down Naruto.
And then, when the boy should have faced a sharped chain, he saw the attackers standing there, not moving a muscle, as if he was looking on a stopped frame on the television, or on a photo.
'Wh-What the hell?' thought Naruto. Never before has he faced such an occurrence. 'Is that an illusion? I heard trained shinobi talking about such a case in battle. Is that a jutsu or genjutsu they used? No, they wouldn't be under the spell of their own technique, nor the would create a genjutsu instead of just finishing me off. And a lame one at that!'
And as abruptly it began, as hastily it was over with Sasuke nailing their chain to a tree with a shuriken and a kunai.
"We're stuck?" the nukenin noticed. Right after that, Sasuke landed on their coupled gauntlets, kicking them in the faces, effectively ripping off the chain from both of their hands.
'Amazing,' thought Naruto. The events occurred so fast, you could miss it with a blink.
Just as they lost their primary weapon, they parted, one attacking the near standing Naruto, the other going after the stunned bridge builder.
Having been brought up as a civilian, Sakura knew neither hide nor hair of battles or killing, besides those in fairy tales or war stories from retired shinobi. There was an old man with no family living in their neighbourhood, who used to tell such to the children.
"I was young once," he chuckled. "And I was a shinobi." The children gasped collectively. The mere mention of the almost mythical figures who guarded the village had all their attention, let alone meeting one.
"In war, one discovers a new side of himself. Just as you thought you cant even throw a kunai right…" the old man then spooked the children for a dramatic effect.
"Boom – you fight with a whole enemy squad on your own. Hahah, well, not really, but you, kids, get the point," Sakura paid close attention to his words, as she herself planned to enrol in the Academy.
"Never underestimate what a man is capable of in these kind of situations, especially yourselves."
'I-I am going to do it!' Sakura determined to protect Tazuna with her life, even though she wasn't ready to fight an enemy. "Mister Tazuna, run!"
Right after Sakura, Sasuke appeared between the pair and the cloaked shinobi, intending to take on the blow.
However, it didn't connect, as the culprit's neck met with Kakashi's arm, who already had the second ninja unconscious in a headlock, the first soon suffering the same fate.
"Yo," was all that he said.
'Kakashi-sensei! You're alive!' thought Sakura in awe.
'Showoff,' Sasuke wasn't impressed.
"If he's alive…" Naruto turned to the place where the 'remains' of Kakashi were and only saw shredded block of wood. "He used Kawarimi?"
"Naruto," silver-haired jonin caught his attention. "I'm sorry that I couldn't save you earlier. You got hurt because of it. But I'm disappointed that you froze."
With that he turned to the rest of the group. "Great work, Sasuke. And you too, Sakura."
'One way or another, they did protect me,' sighed Tazuna.
'I-I couldn't do a thing,' Naruto pondered upon his failure. 'As if that moment wasn't an illusion at all, and I was stunned by some jutsu.'
'No,' he decided. 'I was scared shitless of them. I couldn't protect myself, nor my teammates as Sasuke did. It was his first battle, and he didn't hesitate, he even doesn't have a speck of dirt on him!' Naruto was deeply surprised. He was training and studying (as much as he could) all in the effort to become the Hokage, but when the moment came, he couldn't even twitch his finger!
"Hey," said Sasuke. "Are you okay, scaredy cat?" he jested at Naruto.
'Hngh! He, he mocks me?' the thought made Naruto go back to his knucklehead self.
"Naruto!" his sensei prevented him going back to childish hassles. "The wound on your hand. Their claws were laced with poison, we have to open it to extract it. Stand still."
"And by the way, Tazuna-san," he turned to the bridge builder.
"W-What?"
"You have to explain me a couple of things."
"These are nukenin of the Hidden Mist. Demon Brothers, Gozu and Mezu," concluded Kakashi.
"How did you know that we'll attack?" asked one of the brothers.
"There wasn't any rain for days, if I recall, so there is no way there could be a puddle here," Kakashi answered.
"If you knew that, why did you let them attack the kids?" Tazuna chimed in.
"Even though I could've killed them before, I needed to know why are they're here, who is their target."
"What do you mean?" Tazuna asked in confusion.
"They targeted you, didn't they? The must've followed us for quite awhile," Kakashi mused. "We didn't know that we would have to guard you from other than bandits and thugs. It makes this mission a rank higher, a B-rank."
Tazuna felt guilty for lying about his mission and couldn't look Kakashi in the eye.
"I understand, that you must have had your own reasons to lie about the details, but we have to discontinue this mission," the jonin explained.
"Besides, we need to get medical attention for Naruto," he looked at said boy. "I wager he got enough strength to make it back."
'Hngh! I won't be a nuisance any longer!' Naruto decided, taking out a kunai and plunging it in to the wound deep enough to let the poison out.
The act shocked the group. Even Kakashi wasn't ready for this!
"Naruto! What are you doing?!" Sakura exclaimed her concern.
"I wont ask for help, I wont fall behind Sasuke!" Naruto proclaimed. "I swear by the pain in my hand, with this kunai, I will protect the old man! The mission continues!"
After his hand got patched up, and they continued to travel to the Wave, Naruto went back to that moment, when everything was seemingly frozen.
'Was it really an illusion? It didn't feel like one,' with that problem on his mind he rubbed the back of his shoulder. 'Good grief, we only just left the village for a couple of hours and such bizarre things start to happen. Just great.'
In an undisclosed location…
"You told me you are professionals, not a bunch of bandits! The Demon Brothers were defeated by mere genin, and you say you have things under control?" a short man with sunglasses on very vocally exclaimed his concerns to a man with a gigantic sword, sitting at the other end of the small room.
Then, the man levelled said sword on the little man, almost touching him with it, despite that there were about 3 meters between them.
"Who do you think I am?" the sword wielder asked rhetorically."They don't call me Demon of the Hidden Mist for nothing."
= = = To be continued... = = =
I'll be the roundabout
The words will make you out 'n' out
I spend the day your way
Call it morning driving through the sound and
In and out the valley...